Today begins the season of Lent. Although "Lent" isn't in the Bible, it is the 40 days preceding Easter in which some denominations observe. It is a way for Christians to remind themselves to repent of their sins in a manner similar to how people in the Old Testament repented in sackcloth, ashes and fasting as did Esther, Tamar and others in the Bible. In preparation for Lent this year, I began to seek God's guidance in what I needed to fast, or remove, from my life. As I was "milling" around my house Saturday with no TV or kids to distract me, I began to ask God again what He desired for me to put aside. It was almost audible as He said "facebook". Now some of you know, I am an avid facebooker and use it as a tool in my ministry. "Are you sure God" I asked Him. "Yes, Dana, quite sure" He replied. "God, you know I use it for Your glory don't you", I asked. "Yes, dear, I know that but I need you to lay it to the side for this season" God said.
So here I am. The first day of Lent and no facebook and I have survived so far! Actually, it has been quite refreshing. My morning started off the usual: alarm goes off, I grab my Bible and go to my chair, read a passage, meditate on it, and then post it on.....wait, no facebook! Well, I think, I will just read a little more. Before I knew it, I had been sitting there, reading and meditating on what I had read and it was almost time to get the girls up. It was a glorious time with God! I took our dog outside to potty and as I was waiting on him to finish his "business", Anna Kate pops the door open to tell me school has been delayed two hours because of flooding. Really, I thought? She told me she had heard it on the television. Immediately, I thought I could just login to facebook and see if anyone had any posts about the delay. WOAH, WOAH, WOAH....God said. Just that little temptation that was completely innocent, I thought. Once back inside, I turned the television on only to find that Cullman County schools were on a 2 hour delay and Fayette County was under a Flash Flood Warning. Two different counties, two different problems. Her wires just got a little crossed. God right then spoke to my spirit, "You see how easily tempted you were to login to facebook just for a bit of information" He said. Yes, all it would have taken was a couple of keystrokes and I would have been logged in to "my world". But thankfully, I listened to the news and got things straightened out!
Isn't that just like the devil? He entices us with the smallest little thing sometimes and gets the focus off of God. Not necessarily on him, but certainly off of God! Facebook, although it can be a tool used in my ministry, it can also be an interference between me and God. I have even deleted the app off of my iPhone so the temptation to "sneak a peek" will not be there to entice me. And I have to tell you, it has been nice not to look to my phone for "updates". I was talking with a friend earlier about this and she said, "Dana, you might not even get back on it after Easter" and you know what, I might not! I will do what God tells me to do!
Now during my reading time this morning, the LORD lead me to Luke 17:11-19. This passage talks about Jesus healing the 10 men with loeprsy. The verse that really stuck out to me this morning was 14. It reads like this: When he (Jesus) saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And AS THEY WENT, they were cleansed. Jesus didn't go up to them, annoint them with oil, lay hands on them or anything like that. He just merely said to go and show themselves to the priests. It was the men who BELIEVED they were healed even though they couldn't SEE their healing! AS THEY WENT, THEY BELIEVED! Wow, what faith!
I wonder if our TRUST in God is like these 10 lepers? Do we REALLY believe God will do what we DESIRE even if we can't SEE it with our very own eyes or do we think "that's too out there"? You know what the world says, "Seeing is believing". But you see, the world tells us alot of things that are NOT true and the sad part is WE ARE BELIEVING THE WORLD! Are we holding ourselves back from blessings because of our unbelief, because we can't "see" it? I know God is no respector of persons and if He can do something amazing for these lepers, He can do something amazing for me! Yes, people will probably look at me crazy sometimes but isn't the crazy looks worth the "out there" things He can do for us? Yep, I believe it is!
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